By now it's a bit depressing to see businesses close up in town.
The downtown area is making a valiant effort to rise above the squalor that it has become prone to after years of neglect by business and property owners who squeezed it dry and left the bagasse for municipal government to clean up after they wrung the last commercial juice out of it.
In other parts of town the story is the same.
The sign above is on the marquee that used to belong to Luby's Restaurant on Boca Chica near the intersection with Paredes Road. That Luby's is in front of an HEB. Before that, in the heyday of Boca Chica, it used to be the most prized real estate in the city. After a while, FM 802 (Ruvben Torres) and then Alton Gloor road became more desirtable as commerce moved away from the central areas of the city and headed north.
Before the HEB, the most popular store there was Gulf Mart, a predecessor of today's HEBs. Some of us worked there during our TSC days. Those who are familiar with Luby's remember it as the restaurant to go when you got tired of rice and beans and carne guisada and wanted some roast beef, green beans, broccoli and mashed potatoes with gravy. It was a little more expensive, but you went there to enjoy the difference.
Many a young guy who was hounded out of the house by their dad because he wore bell bottoms and long hair and who his father thought would never get a job, treated his folks to dinner at Luby's when he got his first pay check. That'll show you, old man, they would say to themselves as their mom beamed proudly as they paid the check.
"Te dije, viejo, que mi'jo si era jalador."
That's gone now.
Same goes for the "close" sign at the Boss Club on Paredes and Los Ebanos. At one time, it was the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #2035. Numerous commanders ran the place, but one of the the last ones there in recent memory was Lupe "El Polvo" Olvera, who passed away less than two months ago. Lupe was proud to point out that he grew up in La 421 hood and had bought his mom the house after he became a successful lawyer.
(He told me that as we drove around La 4 in his white Cadillac.)
There used to be a painting on a wall of Gen. Douglas MacArthur alighting in the Philippines after he vowed to return and defeat the Japanese. Olvera said he had been there when MacArthur walked in the surf toward the beach. The vets used to kid him and say you couldn't see Lupe in the painting getting off with the general because he was hiding in the back in the LCU.
It was eventually sold by commander Luis Lucio, who used the money to give a down payment on a new building off E. Price Road behind the old Hygeia building. The old VFW then became the Boss Club and was owned – until recently – by a local Korean-American downtown merchant.
The new VFW Post membership has continually struggled to pay the note on the palatial building constructed by Lucio and his chiefs of staff. The note has been refinanced countless times without making a dent in the principal. It is worth noting that the City of Brownsville is keeping the club afloat because of the $1 a year rent it charges the vets or rent of the land on a 99-year lease.
The Boss Club was favored by local aficionados of conjunto music for dancing Friday and Saturday nights. Over time, a group of women who worked there and old customers grew to become a small community. There was Erika, Juany, Liliana, etc., who knew all the guys like Chuy, Paulino, Jose Luis, etc. Groups like Juan Tovar y Los Pobres, Los Superiores, etc., used to rock the joint for the couples, most of them in their vintage years. Where will they go now?
Loose tongues say that the profitable Saturday/Sunday trade had to end partly because the businessman was caught in a compromising situation with one of the women who worked there on the weekends. Ah, well.
All good things, they say, come to an end. But regardless of what new businesses takes over these places, the memories of friends you met there and good times you had will never be forgotten.
19 comments:
So where's the downtown Ben Neece and Jerry McHale describe? DOESN'T EXIST!!!!
Store closed fed up of waiting for GBIC and the BEDC to bring jobs instead of corruption and spending credit cards for BLACK Magic and sex for Jason Hilts and Gilbert Salinas, then taking the Mayor to Columbia to watch.
Good correction on Douglas, Montoya. Be more attentive.
Brownsville lacks the leadership and management to keep businesses in place. As Mayor, Tony Martinez has been a great disappointment to all. His focus is with his friends and associates and his understanding of city management and business is sorely lacking. It is sad to see the Luby's close on Boca Chica, but we still have a Luby's and we could, in the future, see a new Luby's on the North side of town...where the people are. We can expect to see more businesses close as new and different businesses arrive in town. That is progress.....something Tony Martinez and this city government don't understand and can't deal with.
Juan, ever thought of writing a book about your experiences in Brownsville? Just a suggestion
We lost the mexican shoppers
We lost Luby's
We are losing the winter texans
We need leaders that want to help the city not benefit their friends and line their povkets!
I agree with 6:53 Juan, you bring back a lot of memories. I was happy you mentioned Gulf Mart, a great store. One of the managers was Werner Dramberger and the credit manager was none other than Mary Rose Cardenas. Her husband Renato had a small car lot in the downtown area. When the Cardenas went big and opened up Cardenas Motors years later, Werner went to work for them. Another well known local who also worked at Gulf Mart was Jesse Guerrero the jeweler.
Brownsville is a sinking ship and the ratas are being exposed.
This wouldn't be happening if Erasmo Castro was our mayor.
There are more than 15 check points on every bridge but only 2 are open, why? Most of these people are coming here to shop but most would rather go to McAllen where the customs officials are more courteous and all check points are open. Blame the feds!!! Soon we will be a ghost town like San Benito.
Couldn't put your name on this hit job story, Juan? smh
Wightman doesn't think this post was warranted. This is my response to him. I post it here because I think it will irk him. "Like your man Trump, you are an elitist. I guess if you have no interest in it then it shouldn't exist. This is just another example of your short-sighted view of things. The Continental Club in Austin is pretty much of a dive bar and some of the lunch wagons and popular eating spots are counterparts to the Blue Mermaid or whatever that gar place that you want to close down is called but those are the things that help make Austin "weird" and are part of the attraction (have you ever been on 6th Street?). And why do those places exist? It is because people enjoy them and like to go there. Just because you don't doesn't mean they should not be part of the community, my community."
All you need is ONE mist, Montoya. LOL
It takes a real low life, to get all misty about a defunct beer joint.
Nothing will happen until we get rid of the BEDC and GBIC along with the corupt mayor. Forget the bike and hike trail, and look after the bus people. Get rid of the corruption with the DA Saenz and the Scumbags involved with GBIC and the BEDC. Just dreams Juan, just Dreams.
-5 points "spelling"
Closed not Close.
close up +5.9 points for Origin of close up
1910–15, Americanism; noun use of adverbial phrase close up
close up - near
Now I am with GBIC I have a free rein, I am ready to donate my services free to any wife or ex wife girlfriend or ex girlfriend my muff diving service free. I am seeking $10 million for a private Salon boutique where the women can shop and get serviced by me while they shop.
So what is the scoop? I hear that F. Landin was uncovered and no longer has his hands in the kiddie bank?.
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